Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: Jedi Knights #1

Star Wars has added a dark twist to the canon with the reveal that Qui-Gon Jinn was marked for death well before the events of The Phantom Menace. In the first prequel movie, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was a maverick determined to train young Anakin Skywalker in the ways of the Force regardless of the Jedi Council’s wishes, believing him to be the prophesied Chosen One. However, Jinn would meet his end before he could, and the responsibility of training Anakin fell to his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, it seems Obi-Wan foresaw his master’s death under very different circumstances.

As seen in Marvel’s new and canonical Jedi Knights series from Marc Guggenheim and Madibek Musbekov, Qui-Gonn joined a contingent of Jedi Knights on a mission to bring peace between two warring worlds in the Outer Rim, only to be briefly interrupted by a mysterious assassin. While his attacker fled after Jinn gained the upper hand, Obi-Wan would later have a dark vision of the future involving Jinn’s death at the hands of this dark assassin:

Fearing for his master’s life, it seems as though much of this new Jedi Knights series and Obi-Wan’s role will focus on tracking down this assassin, learning their identity, why they want to kill Qui-Gon, and bringing them to justice before Kenobi’s vision of the future comes to pass. That said, the future is always changing, and the way in which Jinn is foretold to die may be some dark foreshadowing to his actual death in the Star Wars timeline, as seen in The Phantom Menace.

Qui-Gon Jinn Was Marked For Death Well Before The Phantom Menace

Who’s Trying To Kill Obi-Wan’s Master?

As seen in Jedi Knights #1, Qui-Gon Jinn and fellow Jedi Knight Berem Khana had just failed in their peace talks with one of the warring world’s generals when the duo were attacked by a masked assailant wielding what looked to be two curved vibroswords. Following a brief duel between the attacker and Qui-Gon Jinn, Jinn uses the Force to pin them to a wall, wanting to know who they work for and why they were attacking them. However, the assassin throws a smoke bomb and escapes.

Following the Jedi’s successful mission on Vekura and Syrinx Prime, Khana reveals his theory that Qui-Gon was the assassin’s primary target, revealing a tracker that had been hidden within Jinn’s robes. This suggests that this assassin had been specifically hunting Qui-Gon for some time, though the exact reason why remains unclear. While it’s not all that surprising to learn that Qui-Gon has made some enemies over the span of his Jedi career, what is surprising is his apprentice’s vision of the future and what it might mean for the issues of Jedi Knights still to come.

Is Obi-Wan Secretly Seeing A Vision of Qui-Gon’s REAL Death?

Killed By Darth Maul

Obviously, readers don’t need to worry about this assassin killing Qui-Gon Jinn as seen in Obi-Wan’s dream. After all, it’s already known and part of the established canon that Jinn dies at the hands of Darth Maul at the end of The Phantom Menace. That said, it may be notable that the assassin is shown stabbing the Jedi Master through the stomach, not unlike how Qui-Gon Jinn was murdered by Maul.

As confirmed by Grandmaster Yoda himself, the future is always changing and constantly in motion. Keeping that in mind, perhaps dying at the hands of this assassin was Jinn’s original fate before what will likely be Obi-Wans’s timely intervention in future issues of Jedi Knights (thanks to his vision). This could then be what leads to Jinn dying years later during the iconic Duel of the Fates in Episode I. Either way, the journey in this new Star Wars series is bound to be fascinating and very exciting.

Star Wars: Jedi Knights #1 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.